So, I'm still really surprised by how many have faved and followed my little fic. I'm glad you all are enjoying this because I'm certainly enjoying writing it. I'm introducing a little bit of multiple PoV in this chapter. This will probably become more common. I actually was torn with adding some of that last chapter, but it just didn't flow as well. Personally, I think that makes for better storytelling, but I'm certainly open to criticism if it's not working (or if anything else isn't working) so feel free to review!

Anyways, onward: For Science!


The obnoxious blare of his alarm clock jarred Bruce from his sleep. The nap wasn't nearly long enough, but he knew Tony would be on time. He was late for everything from board meetings, to press conferences, to flights, but Stark was never late for science. And keeping Tony waiting was never a good plan. Stark got into too much trouble on his own.

It was only then that it occurred to Bruce that leaving him to work on his own may not have been the best idea after such a trying night, regardless of how good a face Stark put on. To ease his concerns, he asked the AI, "Jarvis, where is Tony?"

The AI's British voice replied promptly, "Mr. Stark is currently in the kitchen on the sixth floor."

That didn't ease him much, so before heading back to his own experiment, Banner decided to check in on him. He slipped into a fresh pair of pants and button up before heading down to the sixth floor. He knew the building pretty well and, though Stark kept all the kitchens stocked with his drug of choice (not to mention most any other room he'd have reason to be in,) Banner would have expected that Tony would be more likely to binge in one of his personal bars. Still, the uneasiness would sit with him until he saw Tony himself.

It would almost certainly be replaced with another uneasiness but Bruce didn't want to acknowledge that particular qualm. It was challenging enough to dismiss the first time he walked in Tony binge drinking alone. The handful of times he'd had to deal with a heavily intoxicated Tony were nothing compared to all of the good that came from their friendship, but the past was hard to put behind him. Every so often, that little voice in the back of his mind taunted that Tony was just another alcoholic, just like Dad.

Bruce shook that thought off violently. Tony was nothing like Brian Banner. Sure, he turned to alcohol when life got to be too much to handle, but everyone on this team was broken in some way or another and with everything they'd been through, it was to be expected. More importantly, Tony had never once been abusive to him. Tony was self destructive, for sure and he could be harsh to some of the others, but never Bruce. Most would think that was for fear of angering the Hulk, but Bruce could tell, Tony had never feared the doctor's alter ego, not for a moment.

Before his mind could drift further, the elevator had stopped. Bruce stepped out and down the hallway. As he came closer to the kitchen, he was momentarily startled by Thor shouting, "Another!"

Not alone, good. Bruce stayed just outside the door, listening.

"Sure, sure, but this is the last one before I need to get back to the lab," Tony responded, his voice almost cheerful. "I'll leave the bottle so long as you promise to meet me there on time."

"Aye, of course, friend," Thor responded with a loud thud on Tony's back.

Bruce winced sympathetically, but the thunder god didn't seem to notice. Wow. Tony was even better at this mask thing than Bruce gave him credit for. Reassured that Tony had it together, Banner returned to the elevator to get back to work.


Tony poured another shot each for Thor and himself and forced a smile after he was sure the Asgardian hadn't burst any of his stitches. He raised his glass to Thor's and they both took their shots. Setting the glass down, he asked again, "Four hours, right? Top floor, lab B?"

"I shall be there, friend," Thor reassured Tony as he poured himself another shot.

Tony did his best not to visibly limp out the door, though the several shots of sixty-four year old Macallan Single Malt certainly helped. Normally, he wouldn't have broken out such an expensive bottle just to appease Thor, but after his confrontation with Bruce earlier, he felt the need to congratulate himself. It wasn't often that anyone said all the right things, all the things Tony needed to hear to crack through his defenses. He'd only just barely diverted Bruce before breaking down and spilling all his troubles. That deserved several shots from a half a million dollar bottle, right?

It wasn't that he didn't believe Bruce on the whole "partner" bit; in fact, it was quite the opposite. Tony never wanted to inflict his demons on anyone else, certainly not on his partner. Just like the tech, it was his responsibility to deal with. Stark had no problem having their backs, especially Bruce's but even after the years of working together as a team, he still hadn't figured out how to accept their help.

As the elevator swiftly climbed the floors between the kitchen and his lab, Tony asked, "Jarvis, is Dr. Banner up and moving again."

"Yes Sir. Dr. Banner returned to the lab five minutes ago," the AI replied.

"Good," Tony said, more to himself than the computer. "And how is my project coming along?"

"The dampening device is fifty-eight percent complete, Sir."

Tony nodded, again more to himself. He still had to set up the lab for the experiment but he expected that by the time that was finished, Bruce would have the last phase of his end finished. Although he was caught off guard earlier, the whiskey emboldened him. He'd stop in to check on Banner after he finished the set up.


Bruce made it back to the lab as the first phase finished and the incubator timer clicked off. His mind was only half focused on the experiment. The other half was debating sending an e-mail out to Ms. Potts. Sure, Pepper wasn't his biggest fan, but she would probably fill him in on at least the basics. She also wouldn't tell Tony that Bruce had asked. However, she was likely just as hurt as Tony right now (maybe even a bit more if Tony had reacted poorly- which, let's face it, Tony pretty much always reacted poorly to relationship troubles) and as concerned as he was for Tony, Bruce didn't enjoy hurting others. He certainly didn't want to rub salt into Pepper's open wounds.

His distractions came at a cost as Bruce pulled the test tubes from the incubator without a mitt. The burn wasn't terrible, but it was enough to give him a jolt from the "Other Guy." He managed to set the tray down with only one casualty before pulling off his lab coat and thrusting his hand into the sink. It was a mild burn and fortunately, the few small drops of the mixture that had hit his skin seemed to wash off easily, without any chemical burns.

His heart rate, however, was a concern. Bruce took several deep breaths, trying to calm down the Hulk. This little burn wasn't a threat, he tried to tell his other self. It'd heal just fine on its own. No need for Hulk healing. Right, Big Guy? All his positive thinking didn't seem to be helping though, as Bruce looked down to see his hand turning green beneath the water.

"No, no, no, please not now," he pleaded, trying to fight the panic.

However, just as quickly as it came on, Bruce found his hand returning to normal. He examined his hand closely to find no trace of his encounter with the test tube rack. Had the Hulk taken just enough control to heal the burn? Shaking his head, the doctor turned off the sink and took a few more deep breaths before returning to the incubator. He made sure to put on the mitts this time and carefully removed the test tubes.

Whether the Hulk had actually helped him out this time or not, Bruce said a silent thanks to the "Other Guy" as he added a few drops to each of the test tubes. He watched closely as the mixture bubbled and a thin layer of precipitate formed at the bottom of each test tube. With a steady hand that surprised even himself, Bruce filtered out the metallic particles and pipetted the remaining solution into fresh test tubes. He placed the rack of tubes in the freezer and set another timer.

Although Banner had rarely ever had to rely on timers, he always set them, just as he always took careful notes. This was something he and Stark never quite saw eye to eye on, which baffled the doctor. How did he manage to get a PhD in physics from MIT with such sloppy notes? Then again, it could have been a more recent development, since he had Jarvis monitoring the whole of his properties. It was still somewhat frustrating that he always took time to mark down the notes while Tony was ready to barrel into the next step.

After he jotted all the results on the tablet, Bruce returned to the metallic precipitate. Just as he finished moving it to a more suitable container, Stark walked in, knocking on the wall.

"Are you finished yet, Doc?" Tony asked, leaning against one of the benches.

It wasn't a surprise that Tony would be back with such perfect timing. He always seemed to manage that when they were working on a joint project. Still, Bruce was still a little jumpy from his near incident earlier. He composed himself quickly and responded, "Just need to put this away. The mixture is cooling now and will be ready in four hours." Already knowing the answer, he asked anyway, "Were you able to work out something with Thor?"

"Mmmhmm, Goldilocks was plenty pleased to help," Tony answered casually. "It's so rare he's invited up here, I could have bagged him on curiosity alone."

"Sounds good."

"Well, I'm just down the hall, lab B, when you finish. Come on over and I'll show you what I've got so far." Tony left the lab, hesitating to put his full weight on his freshly stitched leg.

Bruce watched from the corner of his eye. Yes, an e-mail to Pepper would be necessary. He'd do his best to be as sensitive as he could, but seeing Tony like this and having no idea why just wasn't going to work. He slid the samples into a storage freezer and quickly typed up an e-mail on his tablet. He didn't mention the accident or any significant details; just causally asked how she'd been and when he might expect her back in the office, hinting that Tony had been a bit of a pain to deal with in her absence.

He expected to get a response in the next few days, maybe even tomorrow if Pepper was recovering well. So, when the response showed up before he'd finished cleaning up the lab, Bruce knew something was seriously wrong.